THOMPSON, Alabama -- The Thompson Warriors used two defensive stands late in the fourth quarter to hold off Clay-Chalkville 17-14 at Warriors Stadium on Friday night. With less than three minutes in the game, Clay-Chalkville had the ball at the Thompson 3-yard line on a fourth and two, but wide receiver Jaylen Mbakwe was stopped short of the first down and the go-ahead touchdown.
Four plays later, Thompson gave the ball back to Clay-Chalkville inside the 45-yard line with only 1:30 left in the game, but on the first play, Thompson's linebacker Jake Ivie picked off a Cougars pass, and Thompson ran out the clock for the big win and snapped the Cougars 20-game winning streak. "I was just on a QB spy and I just read his eyes," said Ivie.
"I'm proud of our kids, the way they responded tonight," said Warriors head coach Mark Freeman. "The defense played great. The defense has been great all year. We have to cut down on our mistakes on offense. I'm so proud of the guys that stepped up and filled in for our two injured players. You make a great team when you have people to step in when you need them. We thought maybe we would take a safety, but they have two great return guys, so we called a time out and talked about it, but we lived off our defense, so it was a tough decision, but the defense came through again."
Thompson scored first in the game. With 7:05 left in the first quarter, AJ Green scored on a 56-yard touchdown, and Thompson took the early 7-0 lead. Thompson had another drive, and quarterback Zach Sims found the tight end, Ryan Walker, on a big pass play deep into Cougars territory. With 10:47 left in the second half, John Allen McGwire kicked a 35-yard field goal, and Thompson took a 10-0 lead early in the second quarter.
The Thompson defense created a couple of turnovers in the second quarter. Anquon Fegans has a fumble recovery off a Peter Woods strip, and Fegans gets an interception defending against Mbawke. Clay-Chakville needed a score before halftime, and they got one with only :27 seconds left in half. Kamari McClellan hit Mario Craver on a short pass, and Craver turned it into a 37-yard touchdown and made a couple of defensive backs miss on tackles.
With 3:32 left in the third quarter, Green scored on a 21-yard touchdown run, and Thompson took a 10-point lead in the game. "AJ played so well for us, ran the ball hard," Freeman added. "He secured the ball, but we feel like if we give AJ the ball enough, good things will happen." Green finished the game with 149 yards on 28 carries and two touchdowns.
The Cougar's ground game hadn't shown much for most of the night. With 9:26 left in the fourth quarter, Aaron Osley ripped off a huge 75-yard touchdown run to close the gap again. Now Thompson led 17-14, and the momentum was shifting to the Cougars. Clay-Chalkville and the Cougar's defense kept giving the offense chances to score, but the Thompson defense turned away Clay-Chalkville twice deep in Thompson territory.
The Thompson defense created four turnovers with three interceptions and one fumble recovery on the night.
Defensive back Fegons finished the game with four tackles, fumble recovery, and an interception. With Kaleb Harris out, sophomore Payton Lewis did a solid job in the Thompson secondary. "Communication was key to ensure we are on the same page," said DB Tony Mitchell. "We must know our assignments and where we need to be in the right places. We're going to compete on the defensive side. It doesn't matter who we play against. We will give it our best in practice and on game days."
Up next for these two teams, both go back to region play. Thompson will host Hewitt-Trussville while Clay-Chalkville will have a bye week and then will host Huffman.
